Zero Heart - Empty Infinite
by Dragolight
Summary: There I stood, about to end it all. Behind me are nothing but the smoldering remains of those that tried to stop me. Once compared to the Ouroboros. Before me 'their' greatest achievement yet in my wake, a snake eating it's own a**. They considered it 'infinite' in potential but I showed them that even their time is limited. Dammit old man, why now? Why make me promise? Why me...?


If you are curious about anything during the story check the bottom portion and you might find your answers there. I didn't begin with them to avoid spoilers. Naruto will be dark (at least for a few chapters) but will not be without reason (most of the time). He will still have elements of the original (like his stubbornness and nindo). I won't spoil the story with anymore indicators.

*Zero Heart Chapter 1 – Take to the sky*

Ichika was exited, scratch that, he was completely nervous. He had been accepted into the famous IS Academy. As far as he knew it was a place where they trained women to be pilots for the equally famed IS or Infinite Stratos gears, weapons so powerful that they were basically banned from being used during war and were now used in international competitions. The reason why only women were generally accepted was because only they were able to pilot these suits. Well for some reason nobody could explain he also could harness the awe inspiring power of these machines. So naturally he got enrolled here.

He was broken out of his thoughts as he faced the door. He opened it and walked to an opened seat. Ichika barely had time to draw his seat out when the scraping noise the object made drew all attention towards him and he suddenly felt like a cornered rat.

A little time passed and the attention didn't let up. He noticed his childhood friend, Houki Shinonono sitting in the same row as him facing the window and felt just a little relieved. The teacher walked in, her green hair fluttering gently with each step and started presenting the academy.

This did little to ease the tension Ichika was feeling.

"Now then… Uzumaki-kun!" the teacher shouted bringing the boy out of his thoughts.

"Eh?" Ichika wondered out loud.

"Sorry Orimura-kun but in the Japanese alphabet U comes after A and before O so you will have to wait for your introduction." The little teacher spoke kindly and the whole class began to giggle. However it was immediately silenced by the chill they felt.

A blond spikey-haired person with whisker marks on their face grumbled from his position at the window of the last row.

"I am Naruto Uzumaki…" he spoke bluntly.

The teacher sweat-dropped "H-How about your likes or dislikes? Maybe your dreams?"

The now named Naruto turned to her with a frown so deep it made her flinch "What I like or dislike is none of your concern. I want nothing to do with any of you."

The sweat-drop became bigger "Now, now Uzumaki-kun. Even if you are a boy this isn't…"

"Kyaaaa!" the whole class minus Ichika erupted "We have two boys in our class?!" "Isn't Uzumaki-kun handsome? Wild blond hair with blue eyes…" "Yeah, and those marks on his face make him look like a cat or fox. That is soooo cute!" "We didn't even notice him." "Oooohhh, so mysterious, like a ninja or special agent!" "He's a _bad boy_ too…"

Orimura was actually relieved that some of the heat had been taken off of him but he couldn't help feel a little pity for his fellow boy as he introduced himself and took a bit of the attention upon himself again.

"Next you have to choose a class president." The sensei, Maya Yamada, told them.

The class didn't waste a moment "I nominate Orimura-san."

"Wait a second, we have two boys in class! I nominate Uzumaki-san!"

The class split into two as some were cheering for Ichika while others wanted Naruto to be the head much to his chagrin.

"HOLD ON A MOMENT!" a blond haired girl shouted making the class go silent "We shouldn't be so shallow as to select a class president based only on their gender but we should do it based on skill and in that case it is logical that only I, Cecilia Alcott, the British representative can be the class president." She puffed.

Maya-sensei chimed in "Well now, it seems we have a problem here. We have three candidates and no way of choosing one…"

"We should settle this through a three on three duel." Cecilia nodded.

Naruto had enough "I want nothing to do with this." He growled from his seat.

"Hah, I knew that he was a coward. See, just because he is a man doesn't make him fit." Cecilia laughed haughtily striking a cord with the other blond.

Yamada-sensei smiled "Well then, next weekend we will have a match to determine who will be the next class rep. The match will be between Orimura-kun and Alcott-kun…"

"And me." Naruto stated while glaring daggers at the blond British girl who flinched under his gaze.

"… And Uzumaki-kun. Well then, class dismissed."

Cecilia got up from her seat and gracefully made her way to Naruto who was getting ready to leave "I thought you knew better than to cross fire with me. Hopefully you won't feel too bad when you lose, hohoho…"

Naruto didn't spare her a glance until she was finished and only then did he offer her a simple yet frightening response leaving her mute with fearful surprise: "I'll slaughter you…"

During the week Orimura participated in Kendo training sessions with his childhood friend Houki whilst Naruto was nowhere to be seen until the day of the showdown came.

"Orimura-kun." A stern voice caught Ichika's attention.

"Chifuyuu-nee…" he answered but didn't continue as he was swatted on the head with a notebook.

"During school hours you will address me as sensei." His sister reprimanded.

"Yes ma'am…" the teen sighed.

"A man shouldn't have such a weak will. Anyway, I got something for you." And with that Chifuyuu presented him with his very own IS.

Cecilia was in the arena getting warmed up when Ichika flew in.

"Ready to lose?" she taunted.

"Ladies first!" Ichika smirked as he brought up Yukihira.

"Hmph, shall we begin?" Cecilia puffed.

Ichika looked around and then answered "Shouldn't we wait for Uzumaki-san?"

"What are you talking about Orimura-kun?" Yamada-sensei's voice asked through the intercom "He's been here for 20 minutes already."

"Eh?" both of them asked.

"South-east…" the sensei continued and they both looked in that direction.

When they did they saw Naruto resting his back against a wall in his school uniform looking at the ground like he was asleep. Hearing that he has been announced he looked up, although the others wished he didn't for his expression was cold enough to freeze the fires of hell.

"Ready you three?" Yamada-sensei asked.

Naruto straightened 'Ready to go Kurama?' he thought.

'Heh, always!' a much deeper voice answered in his mind.

A moment later his uniform started melting only to be replaced by a lot of interlocking hexagonal plates that appeared seemingly from nowhere forming a jet black armor* of sorts with red stripes on the sides of his legs and arms. But it didn't stop there as a blood red metallic looking short-sleeved, high collared cloak enveloped him with it being joined together only at the center of his chest. Near his ankles the cloak looked like it had been trimmed with a chainsaw. Moments later, nine telephone pole-thick, tentacle-like energetic tendrils emerged from the center of his back, four on each side and one rising above his head.

A ring of dust began to circle the blond as he slowly lifted off the ground, hovering just a few centimeters off the ground.

"What's that?" both Cecilia and Ichika asked. They had never seen an IS that looked soooo… crude. It had no floating elements like normal IS did but it did look very sturdy. The helmet was like that of a high-speed biker and his armor looked bulky and sluggish but it also had a strange beauty to it like it was made to crush everything in its path while protecting the user from harm.

A horn sounded the start of the duel…

"Too slow!" began Cecilia who shot a blast from her Blue Pierce rifle at Naruto causing a cloud of dust to rise and cover him. But she didn't stop there and continued firing a barrage of energy blasts at the dust. "Hmph! One down and one more to…"

The blond girl swallowed her remaining words as the dust cleared and it showed a perfectly fine armor in the exact same position as before the beginning of this showdown.

Meanwhile Naruto was having an internal conversation. 'Are you going to be alright Naruto? You've already used the SPECTRE Drive and it hasn't even been a full minute of combat yet…'

'That was just for show Kurama. I won't lose to this bitch, not if this is all she's got.' Naruto replied angrily.

'Don't forget that there are two opponents.'

'He's no threat. He's not even in his first shift yet.'

'Keyword: Yet…'

Naruto hmmed and got ready to reply but didn't get the chance as Cecilia began another barrage forcing him to dodge.

The blond English girl couldn't believe her eyes. Every one of her shots was evaded using the minimal amount of movement necessary. In fact if it wasn't for the slight blur trail that the boy left when he moved it would look like he wasn't even moving.

"Is that all… _girl_?" Naruto asked, spitting out the last part like it was venom.

This made Cecilia cringe "At least I've actually done something you coward! You've done nothing but dodge. I'll admit that you have some skill in running away… just like a _boy_, haha!" she taunted.

Behind his visor Naruto's eyes began glowing red…

*Instant flashback*

"Look, he's crying. The coward is crying." Spoke a high pitched voice coming from a shadow looking similar to a preteen girl.

"Yeah! We finally caught him and he starts crying. What a loser, he can only run away!" another similar shadow laughed.

"Like the _freak _could do anything else!"

"G-get away!" spoke the voice behind the 'camera that was filming this image'.

"Now, now… we couldn't just leave without giving you what you really deserve. After all a _boy like you_ can only do so much while only we girls can pilot an IS."

The memory faded in a chorus of ill-willed laughter.

*Flash to present*

"…you" Naruto spoke so softly that only the last word was heard.

"Don't care now LOSE!" Cecilia responded and fired another blast.

In the control room…

"This is a pretty strange standoff…" Maya-sensei hummed as she took readings of the event "Don't you think so Orimura-sensei?"

"This should have ended long ago. Uzumaki is toying with her." Chifuyuu replied.

Maya looked at her with a puzzled expression "No thoughts on your brother? I mean he is biding his time. Is that his strategy, to wait until they tire each other out and then strike?"

"Heh, that baka is probably just frozen with awe." Chifuyu dismissed her words.

In the arena Ichika sneezed as he was watching the showdown. It was so intense that he felt like he would be crushed if he got between them. Truthfully he was somewhere between the two sensei's words. He was waiting for the perfect chance to strike but did not want to miss out on the action so he stayed put while a holo-screen in the right side of his head showed about 67% loading. He still didn't know what it was loading.

The round was getting closer to Naruto by the nanosecond. However just before it reached its target it was crushed between two of the boy's nine tendrils and turned into glittering dust. Naruto lifted his hand and a strange knife-like _something_ appeared in his hand. It had three prongs and a ring in the back. Not wasting a second he threw it at Cecilia with surprising speed. However she was far enough to even laugh at his attempt as she dodged "A throwing weapon in this day and age? What are you, some ninja wannabe?" A moment later Naruto vanished from his spot and appeared directly behind her. "_I'll kill you…" _ he spoke icily before kicking her in the back so hard that she flew directly into the arena ground making a large crater. Coming out of the initial shock she checked her systems only to get a bigger shock 'He left me with only 42% of my shield energy with just one hit?!'

She didn't have time to do more damage assessment since Naruto was coming in hot and she had to resort to evasive maneuvers. That didn't work for more than dodging his initial attack since he once again threw that strange weapon at her and as soon as she dodged he appeared behind her once more and knocked her sideways with a palm strike before disappearing and reappearing near her, knocking her upwards with a knee. Once again he disappeared and reappeared above her with a double hammer blow that planted her into the arena floor and activating her Absolute Defense.

The same horn that started the match began blowing "Cecilia Alcott is out."

"Amazing…" Ichika breathed out as he saw how quickly Naruto finished her off. Then he remembered that he was also participating in this duel and prepared to face off next against the blond. However when he looked at Naruto he saw that he was still in the place where he last hit Cecilia. And what he saw next was even stranger.

The tendrils behind Naruto began converging into his open outstretched palm forming a glowing bright energy ball.

Inside the control room…

"The energy levels are astronomical. If he fires that the arena and half the school will be destroyed. And they're still rising." Maya began to panic. They were close enough to be caught full on by the destruction that would follow.

Chifuyu hurriedly grabbed the comm…

Back in the arena…

Her voice boomed across the speakers "What are you doing Uzumaki?! Don't you dare fire that weapon! You hear me? Stand down!"

Naruto simply ignored her and only stared at Cecilia in cold fury as the ball of energy reached 'satisfactory levels'… all in the view of the terrified British girl.

The tendrils stopped pouring into his hand and Naruto took a peak at it before returning his stare on the girl. He reared his hand, energy ball included and screamed "DIE! BIJUUDAMA!" before thrusting forward. A beam of pure plasma erupted from the ball heading straight towards Cecilia who at that point knew she was going to be destroyed. She didn't notice the shadow that moved between them at the last second before impact.

A second later a bright flash enveloped the arena. However when it cleared there was no destruction whatsoever.

Naruto was standing there with his outstretched arm furiously, but still silently, growling "You…"

Standing between the two blonds was Ichika in a different IS outfit, complete with a laser sword. The HUD in Naruto's helmet beeped before it showed a holo-screen with the brunet boy's new outfit. It then switched to the sword "Yukihira Type II and Reiraku Byakuya… An energy weapon attached to a frame whose main ability is energy negation, how convenient." Naruto droned in an annoyed voice.

Ichika knew he was in trouble now. He had used his new abilities of his first shift without even realizing it and was now down to only 11 shield points. However, instead of attacking, Naruto simply took one final glance at Cecilia (who flinched) before gently floating towards the exit of the arena where his gear melted away and his uniform appeared in its stead and exited the place.

A moment later the horn announced the end of the duel "Uzumaki Naruto has withdrawn from the match…" Yamada-sensei's voice shakily sounded through the speakers "As such the winner today is Orimura Ichika!"

Three seconds later Ichika's brain rebooted with a resounding "EEEHHHH!?"

In the hallway…

"UZUMAKI!"

Naruto stopped midstride and simply turned his head "I can hear just fine Orimura-sensei…" he said with boredom etched in his voice before he started walking away again.

"Don't use that tone with me Uzumaki!" the woman growled "And don't you walk away from me!"

The blond simply flipped her the bird without sparing her a glance.

Chifuyu sped up and clenched his shoulder before forcing him to turn around "Listen brat…"

"And if I don't?" he eyed her with contempt.

She scowled and grabbed his collar bringing him in closer "Or I WILL have you expelled. What the HELL were you thinking back there?!"

He scoffed "You are assuming that I actually want to be here…"

She seemed unfazed "Then why are you here if you…"

"Not by choice." he dismissed her "I can think of countless better things that I could be doing with my time than being part of this puss-filled sack of shit petting-zoo you call a school. I just never go back on my word."

Orimura-sensei growled at him "Watch your language Uzumaki, I'm warning you!"

He smirked "Again: Or what bitch?"

Her answer was a backhand slap across his face. However all it seemed to do is turn his head and leave a hand-sized bruise that quickly healed much to the woman's shock "So this is the real Chifuyu Orimura…" he chuckled "How very… womanly of you sensei."

Again the woman didn't seem fazed and just continued to try and stare him down. When that didn't seem to work she drew him in even closer before slamming him into the wall and walking away.

"Touch me again… " Naruto began from the spot where she left him before he was suddenly whispering in her ear, his eyes glowing red "…and I will kill you… very, very slowly." before he vanished again leaving her momentarily stunned.

Later that day in the principal's office…

"NO?! He is a menace!"

"What he is or isn't, is none of your concern Orimura-sensei. All you need to understand is that by the council's orders, Uzumaki Naruto is not to be expelled, period."

"He even threatened to kill me. Besides that he is disrespectful, brash, reckless and homicidal and from what is in his file he is also severely…"

"That and everything else are none of your concern… Also don't take his threats seriously. All boys tend to think they are above the world at that age."

"You can't sweep this under the rug! The lives of my students are at stake!"

"Precisely my point Orimura-sensei."

The sensei frowned "Explain…"

"What I say from this point on is off the books Chifuyu. If you leak this out I will deny everything or have you charged with stealing confidential data. Do you still want to hear it?"

Orimura-sensei did not budge an inch.

"*sigh* He is dangerous beyond reason, so much so in fact that him accepting to even join was done as the request of his late mentor and caretaker Sarutobi Hiruzen. However him joining the academy was only one part of three stipulated by the old man's last wish, the others were that should he be accepted he would not leave by his own will and…

"And…?"

"And that he was not to blast this place to Kingdom Come unless provoked."

"Then why can't he be expelled?"

"It's the Council's wish that the … issue you saw on the file be cured or lessened to a tolerable degree. He is simply too strong and in this woman led era and… well… if he were to wage war on the world they are not sure who would win… him or them. For all intents and purposes he is not to be provoked or mistreated. He is a VIP and I expect you and the rest of the staff to treat him accordingly least the lives of everyone here will be at risk."

Chifuyu 'hmmed' and closed her eyes "I understand but just answer me this truthfully, and don't give me a half-assed cryptic answer: Just how strong and, OR dangerous is he?"

"Truthfully, I don't know, _they_ never told me but they did let it slip that they were extremely brown-pants when talking of Uzumaki. Like he was a god or something and we were not to incur his wrath."

The sensei snorted "If they want him treated as a VIP then fine but a god? He is still just a brat."

"That may be so but he is an extremely dangerous one. I know that this won't stop you one bit but please exercise caution if you cannot ignore his antics."

"Noted…" Chifuyu answered gruffly before doing a one-eighty and exiting the room.

The principle smiled sadly "I know you won't…"

Naruto's room…

The blond Uzumaki was currently staring at a holographic screen when the door opened. He turned a half eye towards the intruder before returning to whatever he was doing.

"Hey Naruto-san."

"Announce…"

"Huh?"

"Next time announce your presence before entering, entrails are a pain to scrape off."

The brunet boy shivered at his tone

"Umm, Naruto-san what was that earlier?"

"Hmm?"

"During the fight."

"Top secret…"

"Ah not that… I meant what was with you back then?"

"Bigger secret…"

Ichika sweat dropped at his cold response

"Okay, I can understand that."

"No you can't. You're only saying that to avoid silence." Naruto answered back

The brunet teen began chuckling nervously while scratching the back of his head "Hehe… you can read me that well already."

Naruto sighed "You're an honest guy. Too honest actually… I can read you like an open book."

"Am I?" the teen asked genuinely curious.

The blond sighed and turned towards him "I've only known you for like a week and that was only during class and I can already tell much about you. By the way you listen and look up to your sister I can tell that you care for her very much. That tells me that you lost your parents or at least contact with them and had to depend on her." Naruto explained like he was talking about the weather making Ichika flinch "Also you still have faith in equality and human race in general, or basically said you still have morals since you hated participating in this duel but still did your best."

"And you don't?"

"I hated… still hate the rules of this _duel._" Naruto growled.

"I meant if you have morals..." Ichika sighed.

"Just like life, duels must be fights to the death. We are fighting with the most powerful weapons that ever existed. A single one can wipe out an army and they treat it like it's a fucking football match."

"You still didn't answer me." Ichika stated bluntly.

Naruto smirked "Does it matter what I say? Let me tell you something Ichika…" the blond frowned and the temperature noticeably dropped "If you were anybody else, even your precious big sister… well like I said, entrails are a pain to scrape off…" he smirked and returned to his holo-screen.

He did not get to continue working since he felt and saw the Yukihira at his neck "If you touch Chifuyuu-nee I will…" Ichika threatened at the other end of the sword. Naruto simply swatted it away with his bare hand.

"If you point that toy at my neck again Ichika… you will be buried next to her in countless tiny boxes, one for each part of you." Naruto growled from his position without looking at him making the Ichika flinch "Consider this a freebie for being the only other guy in this hellhole. Now leave before I actually get angry…"

Ichika slowly made his way towards the exit. The doors opened automatically but before he could exit he glanced once more towards Naruto who made a shoo-ing motion with his hand before returning to the screen and continuing to type.

"You can't live like this Naruto. It can't be good for your sanity…"

Naruto grinned and actually spared him a glance "Haven't had any for a long, long time bub."

Ichika was returning to his room when he crossed paths with Chifuyu.

"Nee-ch… I mean sensei…"

"We're off hours Ichika, relax." The woman sighed.

"Right, see you later?"

"Hmmm…" she nodded.

They then passed each other but stopped once again when Chifuyu asked "How's Uzumaki?"

Ichika halted mid-step. "How did… Nevermind…"

The woman sighed again "Listen Ichika, that kid… he's dangerous so keep your distance from him."

Ichika didn't say anything, in fact he didn't even look at her "Did you hear me Ichika?"

The boy nodded "Hi eyes…"

"What?"

"His eyes… they're the same as mine from back then." Ichika answered.

Chifuyu flinched and had a momentary flash-back to their previous encounter 'I see…' she thought "Just be careful Ichika."

"I will. Thanks Nee-chan!" he smiled at her making her worry less.

Naruto's room…

Naruto was balancing his chair on a pencil… with him sitting on the chair and looking completely boored. However that was only for the outside. On the inside the things were quite different.

'Was it really okay to act like that today?' Kurama asked.

'Don't care…' Naruto growled.

K: 'Look Naruto, you know I'm not your enemy right?'

N: 'Do you even need to ask buddy?'

K: 'Right, then you know I'm not asking these questions just because I like the sound of my own voice. You can't go on like this… It's doing more harm than good.'

N: 'When I find a good reason to change I will, I give you my word. But don't bet on it.'

K: 'Not with money or anything with monetary value because even if I had any you would run me dry, however, your luck sucks ass regarding any other bet. However your word is good as gold, I know that better than anyone."

Naruto didn't say anything else.

"It's for your own good kiddo…" Kurama whispered.

*End ch 1*

Anything that is secret will be graduately revealed in the (hopefully) following chapters.

*Naruto's armor*

Name: Secret for now

Appearance: Mass Effect 2 N7 base with different color scheme and a Kurosaki Ichigo Bankai 1 but thicker metallic coat on it.

Abilities:

-Enhances the physical abilities and senses of the user tremendously

-Air filtration and capable of outer space exploration

-Teleportation using a beacon. Beacon technology is a secret for now but Naruto favors tri-prong kunai (Hiraishin kunai);

-Plasma tendrils – excess energy emitted from 9 exhaust ports on the back. Can be controlled for multiple functions

-BIJUUDAMA: Condensing and compressing the excess energy of the tendrils into one single point it is then shot out as a ball or a beam. Highly destructive. Technology is also a secret for now.

-Flight: Doesn't use jets (or boosters); Secret for now

-SPECTRE Drive: Top secret for now.

-*Classified*

-*Classified*

*KURAMA*

No Naruto bijuu in this story, he's something else. Secret for now.

*Naruto's Past*

Plot trigger. Secret for now.

*Naruto's Stats*

All my stories feature characters that are godlike or close to that. That's all.

*Why can't Naruto be expelled?*

Plot trigger. Secret for now but like you probably immagined it's a conflict of interests here. He's bound by his word to 1: Join the school, 2: Not quit, 3: Not turn it into dust. If they expelled him then he would be technically free of his word.


End file.
